Tag Archives: female crime

There has been an upswing of the number of women committing crimes in Oswego County and some of those crimes are of a more serious nature.

Oswego County Sheriff Reuel “Moe” Todd said Wednesday that the Public Safety Center jail is currently housing 15 female inmates and that six to eight have been housed elsewhere.

State law does not allow double-bunking so when the jail reaches the capacity number of female inmates, they must be transported to facilities in other counties.

It’s a costly proposition for the county.

Todd said there has been a significant increase in female inmates in the past year and the reason for incarceration is becoming more serious as well.

“We are seeing more serious crimes,” he said.

Todd said crimes such as robberies, forgeries, petit larceny and DWI are becoming more prevalent among the female population.

Todd attributed two possible reasons for the increase in crimes committed by women. One is drug use.

“They need money for drugs so they go out and steal to get the money to buy the drugs,” he said.

Another is the county’s unemployment rate. “I don’t see the unemployment rate doing much better around here,” Todd said.

The result is that the female inmate population could continue to rise.

When asked if the increase in the female crime rate is due to increasing drug use or because more people are getting caught, the sheriff responded that he couldn’t quite pinpoint the problem, but did note that local police agencies are doing a good job at making arrests.

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